Email Marketing Best Practices for Small Businesses: Use Natural Language

By
Nathan Rich

This week in our ongoing email marketing series, we are going to talk about “voice.” What is voice? It is a writing term defined as the unique personality, attitude, or character conveyed through the written word. It is literally how one would imagine a person speaking if they were talking aloud.

In person or in email we need to talk—or write—as humans speak. Whether we are pitching an idea, service, or product we need to understand that people are more inclined to “listen” when they feel the communication is similar to how we interact face to face.

It may seem obvious now we are talking about it, but you’d be surprised how many people are not aware of this simple concept.

We have become very good at detecting impersonal, canned email blasts. We tend to delete impersonal emails; we read personal-sounding emails. Good salespeople understand the importance of building a relationship with a customer to gain trust in winning a sale. View email writing in the same way.

So, how do you make your writing more personal? Here are some tips:

Inject a little personality; speak to your reader as if you were talking to them in person

Avoid buzzwords and industry speak; break things down into common terms a casual reader can understand

Focus on the benefits of your product or service rather than a laundry list of features—let them know you can fix their problem

The goal is to help them understand the value you bring.

Before sending your next promotional email, try reading it aloud. Do you feel like you are speaking to an actual person? Is the email personal or does it sound like a soulless sales pitch? If you don’t feel like you’re having a conversation, rewrite it with these concepts in mind. Speak to your audience, not at them, and your email effectiveness may increase. You will also have more fun when writing emails!

About the author

Nathan Rich is the Creative Director for ECi Corporate Marketing and has more than 15 years’ experience in marketing and advertising. Outside of the office, Nathan can be found focusing on music (a major passion of his) or honing his video craft.

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